– Jesus proposed to his disciples to take up the cross every day to follow him. Such a following required an inner conversion:
Mt 16,24-26 : If anyone wants to come with me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
Jn 4:42 : But we ourselves have heard and know that this is truly the Savior of the world.
Jo 6,2.66-69 : A large crowd followed him, because they saw the miracles he performed for the benefit of the sick.
Jn 10,27-30 : My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.
– Also from Christians today:
Mt 19:27 : Peter then, taking the word, said to him: “Behold, we have left everything to follow you”.
Jn 4:42 : But we ourselves have heard and know that this is truly the Savior of the world.
Jn 6,67-68 : Simon Peter answered him: “Lord, to whom should we go? You have the words for the eternal life”.
Jn 8,11-12 : Then Jesus said to him: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
Jn 10 :4 : After leading all his sheep out, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him.
– Who follow him with the same faith:
Mt 16:24 : If anyone wants to come with me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
Jn 4:42 : But we ourselves have heard and know that this is truly the Savior of the world.
Jn 6,67-68 : Simon Peter answered him: “Lord, to whom should we go? You have the words for the eternal life”.
Jn 8:11 : Then Jesus said to him: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
Jn 13:36 : “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now.”
Jo 21,16-19 : Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wanted.
– Following in the footsteps of the Master:
Jo 12,26 : If anyone wants to serve me, follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.
Rom 6:12-14 : Therefore, let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its appetites.
Rom 8:29 : Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
1Cor 11,1 : Become imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
1Cor 15,49 : As we reproduce in ourselves the features of the earthly man, we need to reproduce the features of the heavenly man.
2Cor 4,10-11 : We always carry in our body the traces of Jesus’ death.
2Cor 13,4 : We too are weak in him, but we will live with him, by the power of God to work among you.
Phl 2,5 : Give one another the esteem that is due in Christ Jesus.
Phil 3:10-11 : By sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in death.
Heb 3:14 : Because we are incorporated into Christ, but on condition that we keep our faith steadfast to the end.
1Pt 2:21 : Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you should follow in his steps.
– The following mentioned by the AT authors is external, even when the protagonists follow God:
Gen 5:22.24 : After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years.
Gen 6:9 : Noah was a just and perfect man among the men of his generation. He walked with God.
Gen 17 :1 : The Lord appeared to him and said: “I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be blameless.”
Deut 1:36 : He shall see it, and I will give him and his children the ground he trod on, because he did the will of the Lord.
1 Kings 14:8 : But you did not follow the example of my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me.
1 Kings 18:21 : If the Lord is God, follow him, but if he is Baal, follow Baal! The people did not respond.
Num 9,15-23 : When the cloud lifted over the tent, the Israelites set out.
Ps 23,4-5 : He who has clean hands and a pure heart, whose spirit does not seek vanity.
Ps 24:12 : What happens to the man who fears the Lord? God teaches him the way he should choose.
Ps 77:14 : By day he led them behind a cloud, and by night in the light of a flame.
Ps 104 : 39 : God spread a cloud to shelter them, and a pillar of fire to lighten their night.
– For forty years the people freed by God followed him through the desert:
Ex 13:21 : The Lord went before them: by day in a pillar of cloud to guide them along the way.
Ex 23,20.23 : I will send an angel ahead of you to protect you on the way and to lead you to the place I have prepared for you.
Ex 40,36-37 : During the entire course of their pilgrimages, the Israelites set out on their way when the cloud lifted.
Jr 2,2 : I remember your affection when you were young […] in the time when you followed me into the desert.
Hos 11 :1 : Israel was still a child, and I loved him already, and out of Egypt I called my son.
– The prophets assisted him so that they would not exchange him for foreign gods:
Deuteronomy 4:3: How he destroyed all those among you who had followed Baal-Phegor.
1Kings 18:21 : How long will you limp on both feet? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if he is Baal, follow Baal!
Jer 7,6.9 : If you do not spread blood in this place […] after other gods.
Jer 9:13 : But the inclinations of his hardened heart, and the idols that his fathers had made known to him.
Jer 11:10 : They returned to the iniquities of their ancestors […] going, they too, after other gods.
Jer 25,4-5 : The Lord sent you the prophets, his servants, but you paid no attention to them.
Jr 44,3-4 : It happened because of the evil they committed, irritating me by incensing and worshiping strange gods.
Hos 1:2 : Go and marry a woman given to adultery, and accept adulterous children, because the nation has behaved badly.
Hos 2,17-18 : On that day – says the Lord – you will call me: “My husband”, and no longer: “My Baal”.
